Nurses’ association to intensify protest seeking service regularisation, among other demands

The Tamil Nadu Nurses Empowerment Association has decided to intensify protests seeking regularisation of services, creation of nursing posts based on patient load, and grant of equal pay for equal work. It will launch a series of protests, beginning with participation in the demonstration organised by the Tamil Nadu Government Employees’ Association on Thursday (December 4, 2025).

A hunger protest, originally planned to be held at the district headquarters level, will now take place in Chennai on December 18. The association has decided to participate in the “rights retrieval” hunger protest scheduled for December 13 by the Joint Action Council of Tamil Nadu Teachers’ Organisations and Government Employees’ Organisation, followed by a conference on December 27 and an indefinite strike from January 6, 2026.

Nearly 8,000 nurses recruited through the Medical Services Recruitment Board, who are on consolidated pay, have been waiting for regularisation of their services for eight years. The DMK, in its election manifesto, had promised all nurses on consolidated pay would be regularised, but after coming to power, it neither created new permanent posts nor took any steps to regularise their services. Instead, the government redeployed nurses and has been appointing nurses on contractual basis for new health facilities such as the Kalaignar Centenary Super Speciality Hospital and the Government Hospital, Periyar Nagar, the association said.

The Madras High Court had also ruled that nurses on consolidated pay should be granted time-scale pay similar to regular nurses on the basis of equal pay for equal work. However, the State government has gone ahead and filed an appeal in the Supreme Court.

With the election only four months away, this shows that the DMK government is not keen on fulfilling its electoral promise, the association contended. It also seeks the creation of nursing posts based on patient load as recommended by the National Medical Commission and the Indian Public Health Standards. The State government should fulfil its electoral promise, withdraw its appeal in the Supreme Court and grant equal pay for equal work, and stop appointing nurses on consolidated pay, the association added.